Finally, My Vegetables are Planted !

Tuesday, May 1 - Yesterday, after work, I decided to plant my vegetables. It is funny how mother nature works and how things can change so quickly. Over the weekend, we had in our area two of the worst frosts I have seen. My yard was hit in ways which I have never seen before; the spinach leaves in the garden were marked and some of the leaves are brown on the edges. In my flower garden, My crepe myrtles and holly bushes were also hit. I had to prune back the burned look leaves and branches, but from the reading I have done, these plants are hardy enough to withstand this type of weather.

The next ten days seem to be perfect to plant in our area. The lows each evening will not go below the high 40's and some of the days high will be in the 70's.

Last night I planted the following tomato varieties:
1 - early girl, 2 - roma, 1 - brandywine, 1 - oxheart, 1- celebrity, 1 - pineapple, 1 - lemon boy, 1 - yellow pear, 2 - cherry, 1 - cherokee purple and 1 - tomatillo.

Many of these varieties are heirlooms and some are repeat varieties from previous year plantings. The tomatillo plant is one of my favorites. It produces a tomato when mature forms an outer covering similar to garlic. They are used to make salsa.

Other vegetables that I planted: pepper: 4 - green, 1 - yellow bell, 1 - italian long and 1 - habanero. 3 eggplant - italian thin, 4 broccoli and 4 broccoli plants from seed, 4 cauliflower, 4 kale from seed, 1 green squash.


The good news is that I have some room left  for planting. I am going to wait until the weekend to decide what else I should consider. This will also give my plants time to "settle in" and replace those which are not faring well.

Last evening we had a good soaking rain. This was helpful for the newly planted vegetables. Also, I did fertilize the tomatoes using Espoma Tomato - Tone. I will this weekend place Garden - Tone around the rest of the vegetables.

In our area, it is always safe to plant during Mothers Day weekend since there rarely seems to be a frost in our area after this date. The good news for this year is that the lows in the evening until then are not predicted to fall within a concern. Therefore, getting an early start with planting will help produce mature crops during the early part of summer.